  The Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse is the oldest surviving screw-pile lighthouse built as an aid to navigation on the Chesapeake Bay. It was built at the mouth of the Patapsco River in 1855 and marked the shoal known as "Seven Foot Knoll" for 133 years. Its beacon was first lit in January of 1856. The innovative screw-pile lighthouse design, which made its first appearance in the United States in 1850, eliminated the need for underwater masonry foundations to support a lighthouse. Screw-pile lighthouses were suspended above the water by a system of cast-iron pilings with corkscrew-like bases, which could be screwed into the soft mud of the sea floor. The Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse was the second screw-pile lighthouse built on the Chesapeake Bay and was constructed on nine cast-iron screw piles supporting a gallery deck some nine feet above mean high water. The structural members were fabricated at the Baltimore iron foundry of Murray and Hazelhurst, and the total cost of construction was $43,000. Seven Foot Knoll was equipped with a 4th order Fresnel lens visible for 12 miles. Throughout most of its history, three keepers were assigned to Seven Foot Knoll, a Principal Keeper and two Assistant Keepers. Although officially prohibited at offshore light stations, at least two Keepers lived in the lighthouse with their families. One of those keepers lost his job shortly after an Assistant Keeper complained. The other, James Bowling was allowed to live there with his family presumably because his wife Margaret served as Assistant Keeper. In 1875, their daughter Knolie was born in the lighthouse. Probably the most remarkable event in Seven Foot Knoll's history took place on August 21, 1933 when Keeper Thomas J. Steinhise risked his life in the face of heavy seas and hurricane force winds to assist the sinking tugboat Point Breeze. After hearing a distress whistle shortly after midnight, Mr. Steinhise took the station's small motor launch in the direction of the whistle and was able to rescue five of the tug's crew from drowning. Steinhise was awarded the Silver Lifesaving Medal for his heroism. The lighthouse was automated in 1948 and the Coast Guard maintained the light, but unfortunately the structure fell victim to its age and the elements. By the late 1960's, plans were underway to retire the light and replace it with a new navigation marker. However, the lighthouse continued to serve as an active aid to navigation until it was moved to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore in 1988. The Coast Guard donated the lighthouse to Baltimore City to be preserved as an historic landmark. With grants from the Maryland Historical Trust and Wheelabrator Corporation, and the enthusiastic help of the Steinhise family, volunteers and students, the restoration project was completed in approximately one year. From 1989 to 1997, the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse served as the headquarters for the Living Classrooms Foundation. In 1997 the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse became part of the Baltimore Maritime Museum to be preserved for generations to come. |
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